He was watching MY EVERY MOVE

Bethany Cathrae finally figured out how her controlling ex kept tracking her down...

- ELLIE FAWCETT

It wasn’t immediately obvious – a quick glance across the bookshelf and you’d miss it completely. That’s how he had managed to get away with it. My ex  knew I never really looked closely at the books on the shelf, so he thought it was the perfect hiding spot. But one day in late 2019, I found it. Sitting on the bookshelf, tucked slightly behind a book, was a camera – and it was recording my every move.

It’s strange what you put up with when you think you are in love. The things you convince yourself are normal, the telling yourself that no relationship is perfect, all couples have their ups and downs. I made countless excuses during my last relationship, and I just wish I’d wised up to all of the red flags sooner.

I met David Malone, then 46, in June 2018, when he came to the pub I worked in. I was 36, single and living alone, working two jobs – as a cleaner, and behind a bar – which I juggled alongside the law degree I was studying for through The Open University.

My life was busy and I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but David seemed sweet and was very easygoing and confident.

I agreed to go on a date with him and a few weeks later, over dinner, I told him about my ambition to be a solicitor. David was very charming and over the next few weeks, as we continued dating, he showered me with compliments.

Then, two months later, in August 2018, David asked me to move in with him, telling me it would help me to save money and would mean I could quit my early-morning cleaning job.

It was very fast, but I agreed that David had a point. Yet, when we moved in together, I noticed a different side to him.